Chapter 523: Chicken And Rice.
Some of the participants of the fishing game were injured, and some even died. But every survivor came out of it rich.
The Blood Skull sect terrorized the Five Veins Region so that by the time her party was done, every sect knew that a new golden core elder had appeared in the Blood Skull sect.
Arthur chuckled when he saw this and said, "If this is a tradition of the sect, I guess it is a good thing that the location of our secret realm is well protected."
Then he returned to cultivating.
While he was cultivating, the three patriarchs of the sect were having a meeting. Their meeting was in front of the large metallic ring gateway in the underground temple.
It has been a little more than ten years since Arthur joined the inner sect and activated the metallic gateway. Patriarch Sword Flash had been studying the gateway ever since and has finally managed to work out how to use it without dying.
After figuring out how to use the gateway to locate and find the League of World Eaters in the void layer of space, he called the other three to discuss their next plan.
The meeting wasn’t as much a discussion as it was Sword Flash informing them of his progress and his next plans.
He certainly didn’t need their permission to do the things he had in mind. He was just telling them so that they wouldn’t be in the dark, and maybe they could be of help to him.
Thunder Drake and Evergreen flanked in on the right and left, respectively. All three of them were in their avatar form.
All three of them were also looking at the large metallic gateway while ten more avatars of Sword Flash were arranging various equipment around the gateway and fiddling with various things.
Sword Flash said to them, "The gateway truly leads to the void zone beyond the second layer of space. But that zone is variously dangerous. There are space cracks there, and there is no mana there."
"The lack of mana in the void zone was expected. After all, that’s why it was called the void zone. As you will soon see, the place is very dark, lacks air and atmosphere of any kind, and is very cold."
"The lack of light means that it is easy to get lost. Getting lost in the void zone while there is no mana to replenish one’s energy means damnation."
"Even then, death by starvation is slow, and something can be done to avoid it. But if you encounter a space crack, you will be doomed instantly."
He chattered on and on excitedly while the other two listened attentively.
"Actually, I like the space cracks. I want to study them. I have a belief that if I can stabilize them, they can lead to other worlds. But those space cracks are ephemeral and short-lived."
"It appears that they only appear for a short time to kill me and for nothing else. It is truly a pity because I have great plans for them."
After reaching this point, he sighed in regret. He became dejected, but his low mood didn’t last for long.
He soon perked up and said, "On the bright side, I was able to find one of the outposts for the League of World Eaters. They are so much cooler and more powerful than I thought."
He was very excited as he said, "They are truly a force that roams worlds, eating them. They have beings that are strong enough to grab worlds with their hands and lift them. I saw it myself."
He even split part of his divine sense containing the memory of his encounter and gave it to the other two so they would believe him and not think that he had gone crazy.
After reviewing his experience, the other two were shaken. Thunder Drake was mostly shocked, but Lady Evergreen was afraid.
She voiced those fears to Sword Flash, "Is it safe to come in contact with such powerful beings? If they can eat worlds, they can eat us too."
He said, "Your worries are not baseless. But I must say that you’re overestimating your worth."
He explained his reasoning to her so that she wouldn’t misunderstand him. He started his explanation with a question.
"Tell me, if you are hungry and have between a large chicken and a single grain of rice to eat, what will you eat first?"
Lady Evergreen rolled her eyes as she replied, "The large chicken."
"Exactly. You will eat the chicken because only it is worth your time. Even if there is no chicken, it is unlikely that you will deign to pick up the single grain of rice to eat no matter how hungry you are."
"I bet that rather than eat that single grain of rice, you won’t bother with it because it won’t satiate you. I bet that you would rather use your time and effort to look for a chicken or a big meal to eat rather than waste your time trying to eat a single grain of rice."
She said with exasperation, "Yes, yes. I get your point."
But he didn’t listen to her and continued with his analogy. "We are that grain of rice while whole worlds are the chicken. No matter how hungry those beings can be, they won’t bother with us."
"What we should be concerned about are beings that are of the same level of existence as us, as only they will be interested in what we have."
"Besides, we are in a poor place incapable of supporting our existence, so other people have even lesser reasons to target us. Only people like the Red and Blue Fire Sect who are desperate will bother with us and this part of the world."
"What we need to do is do whatever is needed to get the support of the Ethera tree and start our own branch of the World Eaters. If we can gain the support of the Ethera tree and join the League of World of Word Eaters, we won’t be limited by the resources our poor location anymore."